Zen and the Art of Mowing the Lawn

Hi, my name is Amy and I'm a spoiled housewife.

For the past year we've had a landscaping service come and cut our lawn. It all began last year in Morgantown when the house went on the market. SOB didn't have the time to maintain the yard up to 'house for sale' standards, so we caved and got it taken care of. Once we moved into the new house, we only needed the grass cut a few times before fall, and so we found a crew to do it. Then they kept at it in the spring.

And then last week I "fired" them.

I say that in quotes because I didn't do away with them entirely, just for lawn mowing. They keep weed whacking my flowers, and the prices change arbitrarily, and SOB's side job is going to slow down soon, so he should have more time for things like yard work. He admits to actually liking yard work, in fact.

Now since it was father's day weekend and all, and considering the overgrown hedges surrounding our property, I offered to mow the lawn on Saturday while SOB hedge trimmed. Had he done both he would have been at it for hours. So we got out the mower and he filled it with gas and I was off. (Well, after a short lesson, since I had never before mowed a lawn. I attempted it once in Philly, but didn't even make it halfway through, and our yard was a postage stamp, so it doesn't count!)

An hour and half (and 840 calories) later, we had a lovely, manicured looking lawn and freshly trimmed shrubbery. Was it fun? Not at all. But it was strangely satisfying. Like vacuuming but with more noticeable results. You're just alone with your thoughts, trying to make nice straight lines and not run over any bees. It's a good time for contemplating and self reflection.

My parents were in the pool with the kids (who were learning to do all sorts of cool tricks) while we toiled, but that made jumping in afterwards feel even better. I don't think I'll be on the regular schedule for lawn care, but I think I can manage being a fill in from time to time. Whenever I need to clear my head.

Bookworm

It's no secret that Sam had a rough time this year. One of the tactics his teachers tried with him was letting him go to the library every time he was having trouble in class. Usually the long walk calmed him down, and he really loved the librarian Mrs. Hughes. And while he was there he'd check out a book or two. I was amazed at how many different books he brought home throughout the year, sometimes several in one day.

During the open house they held in the springtime, we visited the library. Mrs. Hughes pulled us aside and let us know that because of Sam, nearly all of the boys in his class were reading like crazy this year. Apparently his rave reviews inspired the other kids to pick up some new books, too. It was the proudest I've been of him all year. 

On the last day of school, Sam came home with this: 

Obviously, he added all of the "1st!' but I believe him when he says he was. So to celebrate we went to the book store and got some summer reading materials. He has already finished Zombie Chasers: Empire State of Slime (his choice) and is starting on From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (my choice).

I think it's going to be a good summer!

Last Day of First Grade

Posing choices made by Sam.

Don't It Make You Smile?

I PACKED MY LAST SCHOOL LUNCH OF 2013!!! WOO!!! HOO!!!

(Can you tell that I hate packing lunches?)

This is a phenomenon that I truly don't understand in myself. I mean, I make the children nearly the exact same lunch at home, but it doesn't seem to bother me too much. Unfortunately, there will be at least one week of packing camp lunches this summer, so I'm not totally off the hook, but that's not until the end of July.

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We are having a weekend pool party cook out friendship bonanza this weekend, which will include 8 adults, one of which is pregnant, 4 children, including an adorable pair of 9-month old twin boys, and one puppy, sleeping in our home. Plus our crazy clan. We kind of did one of these a few years ago in WV (see here) and it was great fun. So we decided to expand things a bit for even more fun! If you don't hear from me after this weekend, assume I died happily of a friendship overdose.

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The peas are in their pods! At least some of them are. Most of them are still just little white pea blossoms, but it won't be long until we are feasting on garden peas! And some of my tomatoes and cucumbers are also flowering. Oh, the bounty we'll have once all of this is all edible! 

The Situation With the Pool is Coming Along Swimmingly

Well, my anxiety about the pool is slightly dissipating, and I'm finding myself occasionally enjoying having a swimming pool! This week.

Since Sam is still in school, I've been able to manage swim time without too much drama. I take the girls swimming in the afternoon while Fred is napping and Sam is at school. Then once Sam gets home, our babysitter arrives and I take the boys in the pool while she plays with the girls. Fred only stays in for a bit, and then I hand him off and spend a little more time with Sam. Fred is a delusional little boy who literally thinks he can walk on water, but I'm hoping that he'll learn soon enough the truth about that. Without drowning, that is.

The thing is, I don't really know what in the hell I'm going to do next week once school is out for Sam. Anyone want to volunteer to come over and help?

The Great Bed Swap of 2013

All four of my children have used the same crib. Sam started sleeping in it when he was four months old, and continued until we moved to Philly when Lucy was born. She was the first to have an actual nursery with decor and paint colors to match, seen here. She stayed in there for a long while, until we moved her out to get ready for Maggie. Maggie slept in there until a few months after Fred was born, and there he's stayed. Until now.

On Friday morning I was getting the girls dressed for the day, when all of a sudden their doorway was filled with Freddie. 'I wake up!' he exclaimed. Then he said, 'I hurt my belly!' and sure enough, his little tummy was all red from where he had hoisted himself (headfirst, I might add) over the crib rail. First I made sure he was ok, and then I sent SOB a text to inform him that we would be bed shopping that very night. Interestingly enough, later in the day when it was nap time, he got up to his room a few steps ahead of me, and somehow managed to climb back into the crib as well. I was flummoxed, and so I removed him to the floor and asked him to show me how he had gotten into his bed. He could not/would not show me. I'm pretty convinced that a ghost lifted him in there.

So that evening we took them to Ikea, the bastion of cheap, impulsive furniture buying, and tried to pick out a new bed for him. But we couldn't really find one we liked. We had planned on buying the same bed we had for the girls, because all of the other furniture already matched it, but they don't sell it anymore. So then we started thinking, maybe we ought to get the girls new beds and let Freddie have one of theirs. I've been thinking that bunk beds might work well in their room, because of its dimensions. It's long and narrow, so to maximize space I thought bunk beds along the long wall would work well. SOB didn't like most of them because they were too high. You see, my girls have the habit of jumping around like monkeys, so we decided on this one where the bottom bunk is actually on the floor.

Now they have so much more room to play in there, and they seem to enjoy the sleeping, too. Twice now Lucy has pushed Maggie off of the ladder as she attempted to climb to the top bunk, but we're working on that.

So then there's this: 

The sleeping is only going so-so, but he loves it. Me? I get a little weepy every time I walk in there. We disassembled the crib, and I totally reorganized our tiny attic so that we could store it up there. I'm never getting rid of that crib until I have a grand baby who needs a place to lay their sleepy head. That's reasonable, right?

Homesteading

The past few weeks have been a little quiet around here, but now that school is out for the girls, I should be able to get back to posting more regularly. The problem is that I spend the few precious hours I have while Fred is napping tending to my green babies.

The weather we've been having here has been bizarre, cold then hot and then cold again. We've had a few freeze warnings and we even have a frost warning tonight, on MAY 24TH! In the above photo you can only see my peas, beans and hops (in the pots) but there are 26 tomato plants, 3 cucumber plants, 3 zucchini plants, and a big thyme plant out there as well. Then down by the pool I have a bunch more in containers, including my tomatillos, hot peppers and a few more tomatoes.  Plus I still have a few trays of smallish plants still in peat pots, in case I need a replacement. Every time we have a cold snap I have to run out and cover everyone, or bring them inside. Then the next day I have to go out and uncover and look for damages. Plus, we didn't rig up any irrigation this year, so I have to water manually every non-rainy day, which takes the better part of an hour. Then I fret over my tomatillos, which aren't doing very well, and hope that I'll get at least enough to make one batch of salsa. Then I inspect every inch of fencing to make sure rabbits or deer aren't getting in. The I put away the hose and go take a shower, because by this time I'm filthy and sweaty. Then Fred wakes up and all of my blogging time is gone!

BUT! Now that the girls are finished with school and I won't be doing the drop-off-pick-up madness, I will have much more time during the day to tend to my green babies, so that nap time can still sometimes be blog time. Occasionally nap time will be painting time or swimming time, but I should be able to squeeze in a post here or there. 

Until harvest comes in, that is. Then I'll be busy canning and preserving!

Oh, and did I mention that next year we're getting chickens?